Aspire Scholarships
Who does it help?
Gifted and bright girls aged 14 – 23 from the Ndhiwa community, whose families cannot afford to, or choose not to, send them to school, college or university.
What does it involve?
Secondary school
- Girls are selected from our four partner primary schools, they must score over 300 marks in their primary school exams.
- Home visits are conducted to ensure the girls really do need the scholarship.
- Scholarships cover school fees, living costs, medical costs and school resources.
- A sponsored students parents support group.
- Homework club three times per year in school holidays.
- Guidance and personal counselling.
College or university
- Full and partial scholarships are provided, they include monthly upkeep
- Career guidance and counselling
- Leadership training, problems solving, business and IT skills, career guidance.
Why did we decide to do this?
You have to pay to go to secondary school in Kenya. Most families in Ndhiwa cannot afford to send their children to secondary school and if they can, they will usually choose to send boys over girls.
Education is vital to break the cycle of poverty. If all girls in Sub Saharan Africa finished secondary school, child marriage could drop by 65%.
Investing in girls’ education also helps delay early pregnancy.
According to the World Bank, the return on one year of secondary education for a girl correlates with as high as a 25% increase in wages later in life.
If a girl is educated, the cycle of poverty stops with her and the effects are intergenerational.
